The Black Dragon
by FabulousWriter
Summary: Louise wanted a strong and powerful familiar. She got what she wished for. But it came in the form of one of the sickest and most twisted science experiments imaginable.
1. Chapter 1

Author's note: I recently watched Soul Eater and I just had to write something. So after about five seconds of thought, I decided to make this a crossover with Familiar of zero and have Crona be the summoned familiar. As for the story, expect to see a lot of social awkwardness early on, quickly followed by extreme bloodshed.

I do not own anything.

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><p>The large spiked sun hung high in the air, the laws of physics dictating that it should fall from the sky due to being so close to the Earth or scour the planet of all life in a raging inferno, but it didn't seem to care about such things as it slowly drifted across the cloudless sky. People went about their business as if it was all perfectly normal, not even sparing the occasional glance upwards to investigate. So the bizarre celestial phenomenon was left to it's own devices, it's constant jovial laughter and piercing white eyes going completely unnoticed by the people below.<p>

Today however, the sun seemed to have it's gaze fixed on one group of people in particular.

"Crona, catch!" A girl with blond hair and green eyes shouted as she tossed the basketball she was holding at a nearby individual.

The person in question had a somewhat androgynous appearance. One one hand he had a tall, thin build with pale skin, a gaunt face and black eyes. On the other hand, his hair was naturally pink and while most of it was cut short, a few random clumps hung down to his chin. His hips also had a vaguely feminine shape to them and his voice would sound right at home on either gender. Add to that his choice of attire, a pair of purple track pants and shirt, he could easily be mistaken for a girl.

The person known as Crona turned around just in time to catch the basketball that was thrown to him. He immediately began to dribble the ball in the direction of the opposing basketball hoop as an athletic girl in a pink tank top and camouflage pants leaped at him screaming like a wild beast.

Crona screamed in terror at the sight and tossed the basketball at the hoop in a panic before being tackled to the ground by Patricia. The ball bounced off the side of the rim, onto the other rim and then back again before finally falling through the hoop.

"And the crowd goes wild! Team Awesome triumphs over Team Fail once again all thanks to the efforts of Black Star!" Shouted a short, muscular looking teenager with bright blue spiked hair.

Everyone in the basketball court turned and simply looked at him with unimpressed expressions.

"Oh come on. Are you really going to try this?" Maka said with an exasperated tone.

Black Star on the other hand, continued his boasting regardless of the looks he was getting. "Ok sure, Crona played an important role. But I, Black Star, opened up the path that allowed Crona to secure victory."

Sighing, Maka looked over and saw that Crona was being helped up by Patricia. "Alright everybody. Good game."

"Yeah I'm getting hungry. See you all tomorrow." Soul Evans said while wiping a stray strand of white hair out of his face.

As everyone began to disperse Maka noticed that Crona wanted to say something to her. She could tell by the way he kept looking at her and then away while rubbing his right arm.

Maka put on her friendliest face and turned to face him.

"Hey Crona. Is there something you wanted to ask?" She beamed.

This caught the demon swordsman off guard and he quickly began stammering his response.

"I just wanted to... I mean... I was wondering... Cold we..." He tried to say but stopped and took a few deep breaths to calm himself down.

"Is it ok if we ta-alk somewhere where we can be alone? I n-need to ask you s-something." He managed to say, forcing back the stuttering as best he could.

Maka nodded. "Sure Crona. How about we talk in my room after we get something to eat?"

Crona felt his chest lurch when he heard her say that but otherwise nodded his head. "Yes, yes, that would be perfect."

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><p>It was a bright morning over the Tristain Academy of Magic, the sun making its way slowly across the mostly cloudless sky, indifferent to the mages and commoners bustling about below. Likewise, those in the academy were too engrossed with their business to care about something as mundane as a clear sunny day, save maybe for some words of discomfort from those who were susceptible to the heat or were a little conscious of their skin complexion. Among the former was a group of second year students gathered in one of the courtyards, for they felt nothing but excitement thanks to the cherished and sacred rite known as the Springtime Familiar Summoning.<p>

Well, all of them save one.

A pink-haired girl fidgeted as she watched her classmates summon their familiars one after the other, becoming increasingly pensive at each success. Her stomach churned as she found herself backing away farther and farther, dimly aware that she was now practically hiding behind the crowd of her classmates. At this rate, she would be the last one called upon to perform the ritual, which both gave her sense of relief and worsened her anxiety at the same time. One the one hand, she wanted to get this over and done with. On the other . . . well, there were only two ways this could possibly end: Success or failure. By now she was intimately acquainted with the latter and the all-too-likely prospect of it happening for this particularly important ritual terrified her to no end.

Involuntarily she started to grind her teeth, recalling her previous attempts at performing magic. No matter what she tried and how much she had studied, all of her spells always ended in disappointment. As if the shame of that wasn't enough, they had to be spectacular disappointments as well. Regardless of the spell, the element, or the willpower she put behind it, all she ever got were explosions with the only variety being how large and how loud the explosions were.

She desperately wanted to succeed at actually summoning something—anything—to prove that she was worthy of the nobility she had been born into, especially provided her illustrious lineage. She was Louise Françoise le Blanc de La Vallière, third daughter of the House of La Vallière, one of the most powerful and influential noble houses in all of Tristain. It had seemed a cruel and spiteful joke at her expense for one such as her to be so terrible at magic.

"You've summoned an impressive familiar, Ms. Zerbst." Said Professor Colbert, snapping her out of her inner thoughts. "I don't believe I've ever seen such a fine fire salamander."

"Expect nothing less from a Zerbst, Mr. Colbert." A buxom dark-skinned redhead preened, showing off her new familiar to the appreciation of the students around her.

Of course, Louise mentally spat, her face setting into a grimace as she regarded one of her longtime tormentors. It would have to be Kirche that would come right before her nd she just had to summon a fire salamander. Oh well, it could be worse, she silently mused to herself. It could have been Tabitha and the dragon she had summoned.

At that thought she drew back into the crowd of her classmates. Maybe if she was quiet and lucky Professor Colbert and everyone else would forget all about—

"Well, is that everyone?" Mr. Colbert asked, raising his voice over the din of the crowd.

Louise hissed a most unladylike curse under her breath.

"No, Mr. Colbert." Kirche said loudly, mischief in her voice. "There's still dear little Ms. Vallière."

The emphasis on the little didn't go over Louise's head.

Damn that Zerbst, she thought as she threw a baleful look at the tall Germanian girl. Damn her and her over sized height and her over sized breasts and her over sized lizard!

As one, her classmates turned to stare at her as she trudged slowly toward Mr. Colbert. After all, there was nothing like a potential spectacle to draw in a crowd. Her lips thinned into a line.

"It's Louise the Zero." Someone whispered not-quite-loudly.

"Wonder what she's going to end up summoning." Someone else voiced out.

"There's no way she'll summon anything. An explosion, that's all we'll get to see. That's all we ever get to see." A third voice, a female one this time, added helpfully.

The line of her lips thinned even more as everyone else began to shuffle backward, the memory of her previous explosive fiasco clear in their minds.

Kirche smiled at her, giving a theatrical pat to her salamander. "Given the impressive reputation of the La Vallière, I'm sure we can expect a most impressive familiar. Right, Louise?"

"Of course." Louise snorted, puffing her cheeks defiantly.

Her grip on her wand tightened. Please. Oh, Dear Founder, please . . .

"To my servant, wherever you may be . . ." She began, to the incredulity of her classmates.

"Just what kind of spell is that? Is she . . . Personalizing it?" A girl with her long blond hair done in curls demanded, her eye twitching.

"Now, now, at least it has some originality." Said a flamboyantly attired blond boy beside her.

"To my sacred, beautiful, and above all, powerful familiar." Louise continued, pointedly ignoring everyone else. "I appeal to you from the bottom of my heart, heed my guidance and answer my call!"

Some of her classmates were already ducking as she waved her wand overhead. A blue-haired girl quietly peeked over the top of the book she had been reading before bringing it up over her face again, this time as an impromptu shield. Many of them hit the deck, hands protectively over their ears or clutching their familiars, as Louise brought down her wand.

Then everything exploded.

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><p>After a relaxing afternoon dinner Crona was now sitting in Maka's room, on her bed, with Maka herself right next to him. He was understandably nervous and was more than a little shaky, but he summoned all of his inner courage to stay put and not run away stammering like a fool.<p>

He had also changed into his usual outfit which consisted of a long black old-style robe that was tight-fitting and ended at the mid-calf level of his legs. The outfit was completed with large white cuff-links at the ends of each sleeve and a tall white button-up collar at the neck. He wasn't sure why people thought he dressed funny but he always thought of his clothing as stylish.

"So Crona. What is it that you wanted to talk about?" Maka suddenly asked, nearly causing him to jump up in surprise.

Crona cleared his throat.

"Well you see we've, um, been friends f-f-for some t-t-time and I-i-i-." He wanted to drop the whole thing now and take off but something inside of him urged him on. "I w-was wondering if we c-could go out t-to d-dinner. J-just the two o-of us."

Maka turned to him, a look of surprise on her face but nothing else that he could read. He immediately went into panic mode and raised his hands in an attempt to diffuse the situation.

"I mean you don't have to if you don't want to. I'm not that interested either. Oh what am I saying?"

Maka then smiled. "I'd love to."

Crona blinked. "Wait what?"

"I said I'd love to. Name the time and place." Maka repeated.

"I uh.. I haven't thought." Crona started but couldn't find the words. There were just so many emotions going through him right now that he didn't know what to do.

Just then something else caught his attention. Looking over at the other end of the room he saw what appeared to be a glowing green oval slowly but steadily materializing into existence. He could only watch in rapt fascination as it steadily became more and more solid, glowing brighter with each passing second until with a blindingly bright flash of energy, it became complete.

Then the hard vacuum started.

It was only through a combination of reflexes and Ragnarok's quick thinking that prevented him from immediately being sucked into the mysterious portal as black claws sprung out of his fingertips and dug into the wooden floor, stopping them mid flight in the middle of the room while posters and other loose items were not so fortunate as they were dragged into the strange portal.

Just then a black mass erupted out of his back and took on the form of a small and vaguely humanoid creature with a white 'X' across it's face, to white balls for eyes and thin arms that ended in small white hands. It's expression immediately turned into one of anger and it began shouting.

"Crona you idiot! What did you do!? Your sudden ball growth has torn a hole in the fabric of space and time!"

Maka, who had grabbed onto the bedpost which had in turn slid across the room until it caught itself on the dresser, held on for dear life with one hand and then reached out to Crona with her other hand.

"Crona! Grab on!" She yelled while trying to get her hand as close to him as possible.

Looking at Maka's outstretched hand he pulled himself forwards with everything he had, the black blood claws leaving miniature furrows in the floorboards as he moved. But he was now within reach. All he had to do was unhook one of his hands very carefully and-

'CRACK'

The floorboards rose up out of the floor, bending like organic material and then snapping in half. Crona was sent screaming into the portal, the floorboards still stuck to his hands and the last thing he heard before everything went black was Maka's scream.

"CRRROOONNNAAA!"

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><p>Crona didn't know how he had gotten here or what had happened. All he could remember was playing basketball with his new friends, then he had asked Maka on a date, right after that there was a sudden flash of green light and now he was somewhere with a lot of dust in the air. He quickly began to cough until a sudden powerful gust of wind blew it away.<p>

As soon as that happened a new feeling assaulted his senses. It was as if someone was shining a heat lamp on his head. Looking up at the sun, he discovered much to his shock that instead of the laughing jovial face there was just a small dot of bright white light. It was so bright that he had to squint while trying to look directly at it. It also caused tears to form in his eyes and trying to block some of it with hand didn't help much either.

Giving up, he lowered his gaze to the ground while trying to blink away the black spots that had appeared in his vision. A thousand questions running through his mind.

What had happened? Where was he? Why was the sun like this? Was this all a dream? He didn't know how to deal with this.

Before he could muse any further a chorus of laughter broke out from behind him. Turning around to see what was so funny he suddenly froze in place.

If Crona's black blood could freeze it probably would have at the sight before him.

He was completely surrounded by witches.

Most of them appeared to be around his age and were dressed a little bit differently that the ones he was used to. But the animal familiars littering the courtyard, the clothing, the magical wands and staffs? All of it screamed magic user.

He also appeared to be in one of their bases. The structure consisting of a series of castle like structures linked together by walls with some additional walls leading to a much larger building in the middle. This was a fortress, no doubt about that.

So even if he wasn't paralyzed with pure terror, he'd still be unable to escape and would be taken out by a mass of cased spells before he could even take his first step.

"Ragnarok." He whispered in the lowest and most urgent sounding voice he could muster, not taking his eyes off the crowd as he watched as the adult of the group try to calm the younger witches down. Most of them seemed to be laughing at or bullying the pink haired one. "Don't come out unless I say so."

His terror only increased when the adult of the group, a man with glasses, short hair and dressed in blue robes, suddenly turned his attention to him and began walking towards him with a pink haired girl in tow.

By the time the two reached him he was practically blue in the face and shaking like a leaf. The angry looking pink haired girl immediately turned to the adult and the two began to have a heated argument in an unknown language right in front of him. The argument quickly reached a conclusion as the girl turned her attention to him and began to chant.

At this point, Crona couldn't take it any more and began to beg for his life.

"Please don't kill me! I don't know anything! I'll do anything you want me to! I don't know how to deal with-"

Crona wasn't able to finish because the girl had finished chanting and suddenly pulled his face into hers and kissed him. Her hot lips met his cold ones and for a moment the two simply stood there like this. Then as soon as it had happened, the girl pulled away while Crona simply stood there stunned, his mind trying to process what had just happened.

Just then he felt a burning sensation on his left wrist and saw to his horror that a set of glowing green runes had appeared on his skin.

This was all to much for Crona's mind to handle at once and he promptly blacked out.


	2. Chapter 2

Author's note: Due to the large amount of positive response I've gotten, I'm going to be making this fic my main focus for the foreseeable future.

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><p>Louise was not having a good day. First she had almost slept in on the Springtime Familiar Summoning. Secondly, she had to watch as all of the other students summoned their familiars until only she was left. Then she had to endure all of the taunting and jeers of her fellow students as she prepared to summon her familiar. Her attempt to summon a familiar had ended like all the others; In a huge explosion that threw dust everywhere. But just as she was about to give into despair she saw a shape moving in the dust cloud and had almost jumped with joy. She had summoned a familiar! She wasn't a failure! She couldn't wait to see what it was! Maybe it was a manticore, or a dragon or-<p>

Then Professor Colbert blew away the dust cloud away and then saw that she had summoned a human.

But it was the strangest looking human she had ever seen.

For starters she couldn't even tell what gender this person was. He/She had a slim build like a girl but Louise could still make out a toned and clearly male muscular structure underneath his/her clothing. On the other hand, the individual also had some distinctly feminine looking hips along with other features such as long strands of chin length pink hair and the strange dress-like outfit didn't help matters either.

Speaking of outfits, what in the Holy Founders name was this person wearing!? It didn't look like any form of clothing she had seen before. It kind of looked like the robes worn by some of the teachers, but clung to him/her like a dress.

Whoever this person was, he/she clearly wasn't from around these parts. Of course, none of these curiosities deterred her classmates from bursting into hysterical laughter when they saw him/her.

"Louise summoned a peasant! That's actually quite fitting!" One of them shouted, making Louise cringe.

"What the heck is she wearing?" Another more curious sounding voice asked.

Jean Colbert quickly calmed the crowd down and the two of them made their way over to the individual who looked absolutely petrified for some unknown reason.

Of course Louise had made a request to try again. Why wouldn't she? She had summoned a peasant of all things. Actually, that sentence needed some correction now that she thought about it; She had summoned a gender confused and cowardly peasant of all things. But the professor was having none of it. For better or worse, this person had been selected to be her familiar. The alternative, if it could be called that, was to be expelled from the academy, be labelled a heretic by the church and disowned by her family. In that exact order.

Sighing in defeat, Louise turned her attention back to the peasant who was now screaming in some unknown language and shaking uncontrollably. She simply ignored it and began the chant. "My name is Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière. Pentagon of the five elements, bind this humble being and make it my familiar."

With that, she grabbed him/her by the head and leaned in for a kiss to complete the contract.

When their lips met she almost jerked away in surprise. Instead of being warm like hers, or a normal human being for that matter, this persons lips were cold and hard, like she was kissing a slab of steel. Why was his/her skin so cold? Was this person even alive? Whatever the case, the ritual was now complete and this person was now her familiar. Great.

Then, seemingly to add insult to injury, her newly appointed familiar fainted in front of everybody.

The entire crowd, with the usual exception of Tabitha, burst into laughter once more.

"Wow Louise, I'm actually impressed. You manage to kill your familiar in the first five seconds of meeting it." Kirche taunted, causing everyone to laugh even harder.

"Enough all of you." Colbert shouted and turned back to Louise. "As for you Louise. You should be proud of yourself. You have summoned a familiar and bonded with it. Nobody can doubt you abilities as a mage any longer. But still.."

Colbert then glanced back at the unconscious individual. "Why was that person so afraid of us? What language was that? Maybe we can find out when he or she wakes up."

Lowering his staff and chanting, Colbert cast a quick translation spell on the unconscious individual. He then quickly wrote down the runes that had appeared on his/her wrist before turning back to the crowd. "You all have the rest of the day off to get to know your familiars."

With that, Louise was alone while her unconscious familiar was taken to the infirmary. The teaching staff had also noticed that a few items had also been summoned along with her familiar. It was just a few simple things like a nightstand, a small, now broken bookshelf and a bag of some kind along with a few other unidentifiable objects. Louise decided to have these items moved into her room next to her familiars hay pile for the time being.

Seeing that she currently had nothing to do until her familiar woke up, Louise retired to her room and flopped down on her bed. Today had not been a good day. She had summoned a commoner of all things as her familiar, a fact that she was never going to hear the end of from the rest of her classmates.

Actually, forget about them. What was she going to say to her parents?

'Dear mom and dad. Today I summoned a cowardly, gender confused commoner to be my familiar. He/she doesn't speak our language and fainted when I approached him/her. Please love me.'

She slapped a pillow over her face at the thought. Yeah, that was going to go over well.

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><p>When Crona regained consciousness he found himself lying down in a comfortable feeling bed. He was tempted to relax and go back to sleep but a sudden flash of memories caused him to bolt upwards into a sitting position. Looking around he saw that he was in an infirmary of some kind. It didn't have any of the advanced medical equipment he had seen in the previous one, there wasn't even an IV in his arm, but he could still tell that this was a place where people had their injuries treated. At least he hadn't woken up strapped to an examination table, surrounded by mad scientist equipment with Professor Stein looming over him with a scalpel in his hand and laughing like a maniac. He knew in his gut that Stein would never do something like that to him but the man still scared him half to death.<p>

Wait, was he injured?

He threw the blanket off of his body and looked himself over. He was still dressed in his robe and other than missing his shoes he appeared to be all right. He breathed a sigh of relief. He had probably seen Blair naked and passed out or something like that. Nothing to have a panic attack over. Or at least not a major one.

Getting out of bed he quickly located his shoes and put them back on. He then made his way over to the nearby window to see where in Death City he was. There was also that date with Maka he had almost forgotten about. He still didn't know where they were going to go or what people were supposed to do on them. Maybe he could ask one of his friends for advice.

He reached the window and looked out. Any sense of ease he was feeling evaporated and his eyes nearly bugged out of his head. He then immediately whipped around and slammed his back against the wall breathing heavily.

It wasn't a dream. He really had been sucked into an alternate reality. He really was in a castle filled with witches. He then glanced at his wrist. And one of them really had cast a spell on him!

He felt like he was going to faint again but forced himself to calm down. He was in serious mortal danger while he was here. He had to find a way to escape without being noticed.

Rushing over to the door and listening carefully, he concluded that there was nobody around. That meant one of two things. Either the spell let the witches know his exact location at all times or they didn't consider him a threat. Hopefully it was the latter.

He carefully opened the wooden door and peeked out. He saw a hallway that was lined with torches that were lit with magical fire but otherwise deserted. Seeing that the cost was clear he quietly slipped out of the infirmary and made his way down the hallway. He then came upon some stairs led down, presumably, to the main floor and the exit. A quick check showed that the area was still clear of witches.

So far so good.

Quickly rushing down the stairs, he found himself in another hallway that looked just like the last one, but a glance out the nearby window told him that he was on the main floor. The exit had to be close by. He made another quick check to see if he was still alone before running down the hallway at a full sprint. He was surprised that he hadn't run into any guards at this point. Then again, he was in a fortress populated entirely by witches. Guards probably weren't needed.

His thoughts were suddenly cut short when he came up to a large set of double doors. He would have smiled if it weren't for the situation he was in. He carefully opened the door to take a peek outside and his heart dropped.

He had found the way out of this crazy place. But the way was was blocked by dozens of witches. They all appeared to be talking to each other or showing off their familiars. Was this some kind of witch holiday or something? Whatever the case, they didn't seem to realize he was there meaning whatever spell they had cast on him, it probably wasn't a tracking one. Probably.

Just when Crona had thought that, one of the witches, a short blue haired girl with glasses, turned her head in his direction and the two locked eyes for the briefest of seconds. Then Crona immediately slammed the door shut and pressed his back against it. He was breathing heavily now with his heart pounding in his chest and his body shaking uncontrollably.

Ok, one of them had seen him. It was now more urgent than ever to escape this place. He wracked his brain for ideas and then it came to him. The towers, they were connected to the main building by walls. He could simply head over to one of them and jump out a window. It wasn't the most refined escape plan but it would work.

With his new plan in mind, Crona wasted no time in turning around and heading back down the hall.

Unfortunately, the split second he did turn around, he found himself face to face with a confused looking girl. She had black chin length hair, large blue eye, light cream colored skin and was dressed in a stereotypical maids outfit. None of this meant anything to Crona because he immediately started screaming.

The confused girl in turn also began screaming, more out of surprise than anything else. This in turn made Crona scream even louder before falling on his rear end and backing up into the wall as much as he could.

"Please don't kill me! I don't want to be here! I just want to be home!" He began begging and pleading like before. But he quickly broke down and started sobbing while hugging his knees to his face. This was all just too much for him to handle.

Why had this happened? Everything seemed to be looking up in the last few days. First off, his mot-Medusa had been defeated and professor Stein had been rescued. The Kishin Asura had also been defeated by none other than Maka. Crona himself had survived being impaled and was even allowed back into the DWMA as a full time student. Best of all, he had worked up the courage to ask Maka out on a date and she accepted! This should have been one of the happiest days of his life! But instead he had been summoned to a castle populated by witches, had an unknown spell cast on him and had now been caught while trying to escape.

Now he was about to either be killed or be severely punished. He wasn't sure which was worse.

"Hey, are you alright? Why are you crying?" He heard the girl ask.

Crona looked up at the girl who was now kneeling down in front of him. The strange looking maid didn't seem like she was going to harm him and judging by her expression, seemed genuinely concerned for his well being. It wasn't unwelcome but it also added even more to the confusion. His head was starting to hurt from it all.

"I d-don't know w-where I am or what's g-going on o-or what t-to do." He managed to stutter out before slumping his head back down.

"You're that human familiar everyone's been talking about aren't you?" The girl asked, suddenly sounding both surprised and curious. Then her voice took on a sadder tone. "Nobody's explained anything to you have they?"

"No, they haven't." He replied. That was technically true, mostly because he had fainted shortly after being summoned and had only recently regained consciousness.

"Why don't you come with me and we can get something to eat in the kitchen? I promise you I can explain things there." The girl said and held out her hand. "My name is Siesta, what's yours?"

Crona looked up at the maid and the warm, inviting expression on her face. Then his gaze shifted to her outstretched hand. There was something very familiar about this. It was just like.. Just like..

"It's.. It's Crona." He said after a few moments of silence. "My name is Crona."

He then reached out and grabbed her hand.

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><p>Crona took another bite out of his buttered bread and then washed it down with some water. He then cut another large slice off of the richly seasoned steak and popped it into his mouth. He hadn't realized how hungry he was until he had actually started eating. Maybe it was the stress of everything that had happened today or maybe he had been unconscious for longer than he thought. It also might have to do with the fact that the head chef, Marteau, could cook some of the best tasting food he had ever eaten. Whatever the case, he was starving and was now currently shoveling food into his mouth as quickly as possible while still maintaining a mild degree of etiquette. By that he meant chewing with his mouth closed and using a napkin when needed.<p>

During that time Siesta had also answered the questions he had regarding this place. The answers he had gotten were fairly normal but there was one thing that completely confounded him.

"How can they not be witches?" Crona asked, a confused look on his face as he tried to process what he had just heard. "They have magical abilities, summon animal familiars, consider themselves to be superior to those without magic and everybody has to do what they say or else."

"You mean to tell me that there are no mages where you're from?" Marteau asked, an expression of utter disbelief on his face. It was as if the idea of there being no mages had never even crossed their minds. Then again, if the history of this place was any indication, it probably never had.

At least they weren't witches. That was probably the most important thing he had learned from them. So he probably wasn't going to be used, experimented on or subjected to a hell beyond imagining. With an emphasis on the word probably.

With that thought, Crona relaxed a little and took another sip of water before continuing. "There were magic users like enchanters, witches and Sorcerers. But none of them were like the people here and their powers were completely different from what you described."

By now nearly the entire staff was listening in on their conversation. Crona had decided not to go into detail about where he was from. He didn't think that telling them that he was from an alternate reality where there was a place called Death City which was run by a literal grim reaper who taught children how to kill corrupt humans and harvest their souls. Or that he was a half witch who, at the age of five, had all of his blood replaced by an actual demon sword that had been melted down and mixed with a substance called the black blood and had also been raised to be a killer was a good idea. He was beginning to regret telling them what little he had because they now wanted to know more and he wasn't sure how to respond.

Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how one looked at it, the door to the kitchen swung open and his pink haired "master" stomped in. Any nearby servant in her path immediately made themselves scarce.

She then pointed her finger right at Crona. "There you are! I've been looking everywhere for you!"

"Wait, what do you need me for? I don't know how to deal with this!" Crona frantically said but his "master" either didn't hear him or simply didn't care because she grabbed him painfully be the ear and dragged him out of the room while the servants watched the whole ordeal in silence.

"I've thought about it for hours but I've given up. I'm going to have you as my familiar." She said plainly as she dragged him down the hall, completely oblivious to his protests. "And I think the first order of business would be to get you some normal clothes."

At those words Crona immediately stopped his panicking and looked at her with a confused expression. "What's wrong with the way I dress?"

"What Louise means to say is that you look ridiculous." A new voice suddenly said.

Looking behind him, Crona saw that the source of the voice was one of the other mages. This one was a guy with stylish blond hair, blue eyes and light skin. He was dressed in purple pants with and a shirt that was unbuttoned to show as much of his chest as possible. Crona wasn't quite sure why he was dressed like that. If he wanted to show off his chest then why not simply go shirtless? Maybe it was against the rules. There was also a giant mole creature following right behind him.

The blond then crossed his arms and smirked. "Well, I guess a gender confused familiar is better than nothing. But it's nothing compared to a proper familiar like mine. Isn't that right Verðandi?"

He turned to the giant mole creature, as if expecting an answer. But his smug expression quickly changed to confusion when he saw that it was shaking almost uncontrollably. "Verðandi? What's wrong?" He asked, now looking genuinely worried for his familiar.

Crona also turned his attention to the over sized mole. The very second he did that it let out a high pitched squeal and bolted down the hallway at a speed he would've considered impossible for a creature with such stubby legs. He also saw a trail of clear liquid leading off in the direction it had run.

The blond haired pretty boy just stared in disbelief and Louise, who had previously looked like she was about to blow a fuse, immediately burst into laughter.

"Ahahahaha! Wow Guiche, that was amazing. Your 'proper' familiar just ran away and peed all over the floor. Looks like it needs a little house training." Louise managed to say before she started laughing again.

Now it was Guiche's turn to like the one who was about to loose his temper. "This isn't over." He said before taking off down the hallway in search of Verðandi.

Once he was gone Louise turned to Crona. "What did you do? that thing was scared out of it's mind!"

"I didn't do anything." Crona replied while nervously rubbing his arm.

Louise laughed. "A cowardly mole. Serves him right for shooting his mouth off. Anyways, I'm going to the lunchroom. Go wait for me in the front entrance with the other familiars until I arrive. We'll figure things out from there."

Crona hesitantly nodded. He still wasn't quite sure what to make of all this but he didn't see anything wrong with getting some fresh air. So he made his way to the entrance and stepped into the area where the other familiars were.

Apparently his presence had the same affect on the other familiars as it did on Guiche's mole because absolute pandemonium broke out once he started approaching them. The air was filled with shrieks, hoots and other indescribable noises as the familiars all tried to get as much distance between themselves and him as they could. A minute later they were all huddled together in a corner at the far end of the field, a sight that gave Crona a strange sense that he didn't have a word for.

Well, all except for the blue dragon which appeared to be looking at him very much in the same way a dog would investigate an object it had never seen before. Crona was also fascinated, he had seen dragons before but none that looked like this one. He wondered what species it was.

He then heard the sound of multiple sets footsteps coming from behind him.

Turning around he nearly had another panic attack when he saw that both the teachers and students had come out to investigate the noise. They were all staring at him and not saying anything. Why were they all staring at him like that?

He didn't know how to deal with this so he tried to say something to hopefully diffuse the situation.

"Um.." He began while nervously looking left and right. He really wished they'd stop staring.

"Maybe I should go wait somewhere else."

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><p>Author's note: Second chapter is done. Tried to make it as interesting as possible. Up next, character POV's, plot advancement and Guiche has a horrifyingly close brush with death.<p> 


	3. Chapter 3

Author's note: Well here's chapter three at long last. I've noticed that for someone who was raised from birth to kill people, locked in a dark room for most of his life, forced to kill things and tortured when he disobeyed, Crona seemed remarkably stable. In response to that I made a few adjustments.

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><p>When Professor Colbert entered the office to present his findings he was met with the strangest sight he had seen in quite a long time. Old Osmond was an old man in his twilight years. He was dressed in a black robe and wielded an ancient looking wood staff at all times. Physically he had long white hair, an equally long beard and sharp purple eyes that spoke of a keen intellect. He was currently the Headmaster of the Tristain Academy of Magic, one year from retirement and was a highly respected square level mage with a magical affinity for air. Overall he was seen as a wise old man with decades of accumulated wisdom and knowledge. When he spoke, people listened to his every word.<p>

That same individual was now currently on his hands and knees, begging for mercy like a small child while his green haired secretary, Miss Longueville, repeatedly kicked him in the rear end while screaming profanities.

Quickly overcoming his shock at the insanity in front of him Colbert, in a very loud and deliberate fashion, cleared his throat before speaking. "It this a bad time?"

At the sound of his voice the two immediately froze, glanced in his direction and assumed much more normal looking positions with Osmond rushing behind his desk, immediately switching back to his usual calm demeanor. Meanwhile, Miss Longueville went over to the nearby cabinet and inspected it's contents in an attempt to appear busy.

"No, no, now is fine." Osmond said in his usual calm voice. "What did you wish to talk about?"

"It's about Louise's familiar." He said, his tone becoming more serious by the second.

"Ah yes, the strangely dressed peasant." Osmond replied while stroking his beard. "I can honestly say I've never heard of a human being summoned as a familiar before. Most unusual."

"That's not what has me concerned." Colbert replied as he placed the book on the table and opened it to the page he had bookmarked. "This does."

Osmond looked over the pages contents for a few moments and then his eyes widened with realization. He turned to Miss Longueville who hadn't moved from her spot. "Miss Longueville, could you please leave us for a moment?"

"Of course Osmond." The green haired secretary replied, giving a polite bow before leaving the room.

Once she was gone Osmond turned back to Colbert and spoke in a hushed voice. "Does anyone else know about this?"

Colbert shook his head. "No, I came directly to you once I found out."

Osmond closed his eyes in thought for a minute. Then he spoke. "This is a familiars rune that only exists in legend. Furthermore, considering it was the third girl of the Vallière family who summoned her, I'd venture to say this has something to do with one corner of the lost pentagon."

Colbert's eyes widened in shock at the revelation. "If that's true than that would mean she's a-" He began to say but was stopped in mid sentence when Osmond raised his hand.

"Whatever the truth behind this is, you must not speak a word about it to anybody." Osmond said sternly. "Do I make myself clear?"

Colbert nodded and was about to speak when a series loud screeches, howls and other noises suddenly erupted outside. The two rushed over to the window to see what the commotion was about and were met with another highly unusual sight. All of the summoned familiars were huddled together in a corner at the far end of the field. The apparent cause of their unease was none other than Louise's familiar who was currently engaged in a staring contest with Tabitha's dragon. The other students and staff had also come out to investigate. The pink haired, robed individual was looking more nervous by the second under their stares and began rubbing her arm nervously.

"Well that's highly unusual." Osmond said, breaking the silence. "I wonder why they're so afraid of her."

Colbert looked back at the mysterious girl who was now being yelled at and chased around in circles by her 'master'. He couldn't help but feel sorry for her. Unlike the other familiars, this was a human being who had friends, family and a life of her own. To be suddenly whisked away to a foreign land where people didn't even speak the same language as you and were then told that you were now, essentially, a complete strangers slave that had to do everything she said for the rest of your life must have been more than a little traumatic. Legally, there wasn't anything he could do about the girls predicament but maybe he could do something to make life here a little more bearable.

"Are there any spare rooms we can give this person?" Colbert asked, turning to Osmond.

"I think we have a vacant room in the students quarters." The old man said. "I'll see about having her things moved there later today."

Seeing that things were wrapped up Colbert stepped out of the office and saw Miss Longueville waiting patiently next to the door. "You can go back in now. We're done." He said.

The secretary nodded and went back inside, quietly closing the door behind her. A few moments later the faint sound of Osmond pleading and being kicked, presumably in the rear end, started up again.

"No! Please stop! I won't do it again, I promise!" He could just make out the words being said.

Colbert simply kept on walking.

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><p>Crona did not like the sensation of having so many people staring at him. It made him feel like he was naked somehow. Luckily the teachers had gone back inside and the students seemed to be following suite. But he noticed that there were others who were whispering amongst themselves and although he couldn't hear the exact words, they were clearly talking about him.<p>

Then his 'master' appeared amongst the crowd. She looked at the huddled, terrified familiars and then at him. "Did you really scare all of those animals?" She asked, looking more curious than angry.

"I didn't do anything." Crona tried to explain. "I just came out and they all ran away."

His master stared at him for a moment and then sighed. "Well if you can't wait out here than maybe you can make yourself useful. There's a bin full of clothes in my room, go wash and iron them. Clean the windows too, they're getting dirty."

Crona glanced around nervously. "I'm not sure if I should be doing this. I mean, don't you have maids or something?" He asked.

Apparently that was the wrong answer because his 'master' immediately switched to angry mode.

"I'm your master and I'm giving you an order familiar." She practically shouted and pointed to the entrance. "Now go and do what I told you or else you won't be getting any food tonight."

Crona froze in place and his eyes widened in shock. There was something familiar about what the pink haired girl had said. The familiarity of her threats rattled him to his core and caused memories to force themselves into his mind. Memories of.. of..

"What did you say?" Crona asked, his voice was now eerily quiet and his expression blank. But his eyes were wide and shaking.

"I said, wash the clothes that are in my room or no food tonight." His 'master' repeated herself but Crona had barely even heard her.

Memories long forgotten were now forcing themselves into his head. Like a slideshow from hell he saw one horrific image after another as the images took shape in his mind. He blinked and saw a room with blood splashed on walls like paint. He blinked again and saw mangled bodies strewn everywhere. He forced his eyes closed and could hear peoples terrified screams along with the sound of metal cleaving through flesh. He opened his eyes and now found himself looking down at the terrified face of a little girl who had been tied up.

He raised his sword...

"Yes, I understand now." Crona said in a flat, monotone voice and then took off at a full sprint into the building. He knew he was getting odd stares from teachers and students as he passed by but he didn't care. He needed to get as far away from them as quickly as possible before he snapped and went on a rampage.

Things like these happened all the time back home. Sometimes he would dream of things he had done in the past, usually it involved killing or being punished when he refused. Whatever he was dreaming about, it would usually end with him waking up and screaming bloody murder. Then there were the ones that happened during the daytime. These were triggered by a certain set of spoken words or pictures. In these instances, memories and images would force themselves into his mind with such an intensity that he could almost literally feel his mind being ripped apart. But the worst by far were the ones where those memories seemed to bleed into the real world, as if he had stepped into the past and was reenacting those events like an actor in a play. A really, really sick play.

Professor Stein said that they were a result of traumatic childhood experiences and had given him some medication to help. Maka and the others were also there to comfort him whenever he had one of his episodes. All in all, they had both helped immensely and moments like those were short lived.

Unfortunately, neither his friends support or his medication were here. The only thing he could think of doing was getting away from these people and hoping it passed.

Once he was further down the hallway and there was nobody was in sight, he slumped down into a sitting position with his back against the wall. Pulling his knees up to his head, he found himself in an all too familiar position as he tried to force the images out of his head.

At first it seemed impossible and the images simply would not leave his head, but the alternative was going berserk so he persisted. Slowly, with each passing minute, the images slowly receded back into his mind and his thoughts became his own again. Taking deep breaths also seemed to help so he did that as well.

After what felt like an eternity, he could think clearly once again and breathed a sigh of relief. Crisis averted, for now anyways. But if he was going to stay here for any extended period of time he was going to have to find an alternative-

"Hi Crona, what are you doing on the floor?" A familiar voice suddenly asked, causing him to jump with surprise and bang his head against the wall.

Looking up he saw that it was Siesta holding a tray of food. For some reason, he couldn't help but smile at the sight of her.

"I was just thinking about some things." He replied while standing up.

"About what?" She asked in an innocent manner.

Crona's eyes shifted back and forth nervously while he tried to think up an answer. What was he going to say? He couldn't just flat out tell her that he was having flashbacks of all the atrocities he was forced to commit or that he had nearly had a psychotic breakdown that would have likely resulted in him going on a killing spree. No, he couldn't do that to her. He didn't want her to worry about him.

"Just wondering if my friends back home are worried about me." He replied while mentally kicking himself. What was he thinking? That was almost as bad as the real answer! He needed to change the subject and fast. His attention then fell upon the tray of food again.

"Where are you taking that? I'll do it for you." He offered.

"But I'm supposed to do it." Siesta replied, seemingly forgetting about what he had said earlier.

"It's the least I can do after your friends cooked all that food for me." He said.

The maid smiled. "Alright. The person you need to bring this to is Guiche. He has blond hair, wears purple pants and has a mole familiar. You can't miss him."

Crona nodded. "Got it. Maybe after this you can show me where my room is."

Siesta giggled at what she thought was a joke. Crona deadpanned.

"No, seriously. I don't know where it is."

* * *

><p>When Crona stepped outside into the field he had a sudden realization that this might not have been a very good idea because all of the mages and their summoned familiars were also there. Luckily they were widely spread out and the familiars seemed to be largely distracted by their masters. They still got extremely tense at the mere sight of him but didn't freak out like like last time. He decided to give them a wide berth just to be on the safe side.<p>

Glancing around Crona quickly spotted Guiche sitting at a table with a blond haired girl. He was about to walk over when someone behind him began speaking.

"Excuse me miss." The person said. Crona cringed slightly at this. Why did everyone keep thinking he was a girl?

He turned around and found himself facing a very sweet looking girl with long brown hair, large purple eyes and was carrying a cute little basket.

"I'm looking for Guiche, have you seen him?" She asked.

Crona nodded. "Uh yes, just follow me."

With the girl following behind him, the two headed over to where Guiche was seated. Crona made sure not to get too close to the any of the other familiars as they approached him from behind. If Guiche wasn't aware of their presence before he was now because his giant mole let out a high pitched squeak and took off like before.

"Verðandi? What's wrong?" Guiche asked as he stood up. He then noticed Crona standing behind him and his expression changed from confusion into anger.

"You!" He shouted while raising an accusatory finger. "Why are you here disrupting our date?"

Crona jumped slightly at the sudden outburst and was about to reply when another voice suddenly spoke up behind him.

"What do you mean a date?" The girl asked while stepping out from behind him.

Judging by the expression of horror and the way the color seemed to drain from Guiche's face, this wasn't supposed to be happening. Crona was also aware that the commotion was starting to draw a crowd of onlookers.

"Katie! I didn't see you there." Guiche said while switching back to his usual calm and cool demeanor. It was clearly forced but no one seemed to notice.

"Guiche, who is this?" The other girl with the blond, braided hair asked.

"Montmorency I can explain." Guiche replied nervously, his calm facade very rapidly beginning to crack.

"What's to explain?" A new voice suddenly shouted out. It was one of the people from the increasingly large crown of onlookers. "You've been two timing!"

"What!?" The two girls shouted in union.

Guiche tried desperately to salvage something from the situation but the two girls were having none of it and slapped him in the face. The first one left a red mark on his face but the other threw Guiche off balance and he tumbled over the table into an undignified heap on the ground. The crowd promptly burst into laughter as the two girls walked off, the blond one grabbing the tray of food out of Crona's hands as she passed by.

"You just got dumped Guiche!" One of the people in the crowd, the same one from before, shouted over the laughter. "And you deserved everything you got!"

While Guiche was slowly standing back up and clutching his face, Crona figured that now was a good time to leave before something else happened. He turned around and slowly began to walk away in an effort not to draw attention to himself.

"You!" Crona froze, turned around and saw Guiche pointing a finger right at him, an expression of pure rage on his face. He mentally cringed. So much for not being noticed.

"You've been nothing but a menace since you got here. First you take food that isn't yours, then you terrorize our familiars and now you've made two noble women cry!" Guiche shouted in a flamboyant manner.

Crona blinked in confusion. "But I didn't do anything."

If Guiche had heard him, he gave no indication. "I will not stand idly by and watch you make a mockery of our academy any longer! I Guiche de Gramont hereby challenge you to a duel! Go and prepare yourself. I'll be waiting for you at Vistory Square." And with that he stormed off, his cape billowing behind him.

For a few moments Crona simply stood there in a state of shock as his mind tried to process what had happened. Then he began to shake uncontrollably as realization downed on him. One of the not-a-witch magic users had challenged him to a duel out of the blue and now Crona had to fight him. He had to fight a person who wielded a form of magic he knew nothing about and seemed completely confident that he was going to win. How was he supposed to deal with something like this?

"Hey you, what do you think you're doing!?" A new voice shouted. Looking over Crona saw that it was his pink haired 'master'. He didn't even have time to say anything because she grabbed his hand and began dragging him off to who knows where.

"Wait, I didn't do anything. Where are we going?" Crona asked in a panicked voice.

"You can't just go around challenging people to duels without my permission." His 'master' replied. "We're going to go apologize to Guiche, he still might be willing to forgive you."

Crona was led into another one of the walled off sections of the field where Guiche was waiting. He saw that most of the academy students were also present, no doubt eager to see him get pounded into the ground by whatever magic Guiche used.

"I commend you for showing up." Guiche announced loudly. Either he hadn't seen him be dragged in or was trying to make himself look chivalrous. "But since you are a girl and I'm a gentleman, I will give you a chance to apologize for all of the trouble you've caused."

"But I don't even know what I did." Crona said, confused.

"Guiche stop this right now! You know full well that duels are forbidden" His 'master' shouted.

"True." Guiche replied. "But only duels between true nobility are forbidden. She is a mere peasant, so there's no problem."

"Why does everyone keep thinking I'm a girl?" Crona muttered to himself.

Apparently he had spoken loud enough for other people to hear because their attention was now focused on him.

"You're a boy?" One of them asked.

Crona's eye twitched. "Yes, I'm pretty sure I know what gender I am."

"Well none of that matters now because this duel is on!" Guiche announced and pulled out a rose. Crona's eyes widened in terror as the crowd stepped back to give them room. This was it, he was going to die.

"I am Guiche de Gramont and this bronze valkyrie-" A rose peddle fell off and upon hitting the ground, produced a bright flash as what appeared to be an animated suit of armor holding a spear materialized. "Shall be your opponent."

Crona stared at the bronze valkyrie as if were some sort of novelty item. Was this what he was supposed to be fighting? It didn't look all that dangerous to him. Unfortunately, he didn't have any further time to contemplate because it suddenly lurched forwards like a possessed mannequin and pulled a fist back to punch him. Crona screamed in terror, closed his eyes and braced himself for the worst as the bronze valkyrie got within striking range.

Then it struck and he felt something collide with his torso. Then after a moment of nothing happening, he opened his eyes. "Huh?"

The brass valkyrie began repeatedly punching him in the midriff. But other than knocking him back slightly, each strike wasn't having any real effect thanks to Ragnarok hardening his black blood. Crona merely blinked in confusion, not even acknowledging that he was being attacked anymore. Was this the best he had?

"You're quite durable for one so slim and.. Effeminate." Guich snidely remarked and raised his hand in a dramatic manor. "Let's see how you fare against sharpened metal!"

With that the bronze valkyrie raised it's spear and jabbed Crona in the head. The crowd gasped when the spear collided with his left cheek, tearing a cut that led from the corner of his mouth to his ear and even causing him to stumble back a step. His head was now hung low with his pink hair obscuring his eyes but otherwise he was unharmed. In his mind however, something had shifted as reflexes engraved into him since childhood suddenly took hold and a familiar mental state overtook him. A small voice told him that he didn't have to do these things anymore, that things had changed and what he was about to do wasn't necessary. But it was quickly drowned out as reason was replaced with pure killer instinct and madness.

The black blooded terror was back and nothing was going to stop him.

Meanwhile, the crowd was also having it's own set of reactions. Most of them were a mixture shock, confusion and fear at the sight of the black substance that was now trickling down the side of his face.

"Black blood?" He heard one of them say. "Why does he have black blood?"

"What is he?" Another spoke.

His shoulders began to shake as soon a soft chuckle that quickly grew into a twisted and deranged sounding laughter escaped his lips. Crona then raised his head and more than a few of the onlookers stepped back in fear when they saw his eyes. They were now a pale blue color. But it was the emotions in them that scared everybody. Gone was the nervousness and fear that was usually in his gaze. His eyes were now cold, merciless and detached, yet alight with insanity and murderous intent.

A twisted smile then appeared on his face. "Ragnarok."

Just as he said that a swirling mass of pure darkness with a glowing purple aura suddenly erupted out of his back. Crona then reached up into the black mass, grabbed onto something and to the amazement of everyone present, the shadowy darkness suddenly solidified into a weapon with a loud clang. In his hand he now clutched a long, thin and sinister looking jet black broadsword that had a white stripe down the middle.

"You've flipped his crazy switch!" A lower and much harsher sounding voice suddenly shouted, briefly drawing everybody's attention to the sword that had materialized out his body. "You're in for it now!"

Crona then shifted his attention to the bronze valkyrie that had attacked him.

Moving with superhuman speed and the precision of a surgeon, Crona sliced off the valkyrie's spear arm in one fluid motion. But he didn't stop there. The second swing took off it's other arm, the third removed it's legs, the fourth sliced clean through it's torso and the fifth removed it's head from it's shoulders which Crona snatched out of the air to inspect for a second. He then dropped the severed head to the ground and crushed it underfoot. The entire thing had happened in the span of a few seconds but to Crona it had been akin to a leisurely warm up. The crowd may have looked amazed by the speed and skill of his attack but truthfully, he hadn't even started yet.

Guiche, who had been watching the whole thing quickly snapped out of his shock and regained his composure. "If you think you've beaten me, think again!"

He waved his rose wand and four more valkyries were summoned. They immediately charged at him but Crona simply walked forwards to meet them. The first two were cleaved in half with a single wide swing, the third one was sliced right down the middle and the last one received a vicious uppercut that tore it's upper body right off.

At this point Guiche was shaking with fear and was about to summon more valkyries but in a blur of movement, Crona had closed the distance between them, the tip of his sword now pointed at Guiche's throat.

"I yield! You win! Please, don't kill me!" The now terrified Guich pleaded. But Crona merely punched Guiche in the face with such force that there was a loud 'crack' as he was sent flying through the air like a mortar shell before hitting the ground a dozen yards away.

Before he could recover, Crona walked over and painfully slammed his foot down on his chest before he could get back up. Judging by the sounds he heard, he had broken a few of his ribs as well.

"Ahahahahah, yes I do win." He said in a deranged voice and raised his sword in both hands executioner style. The image of the now screaming Guiche was replaced with the terrified looking girl he had seen earlier. He remembered who this person was now. She was one of the countless people he had been forced to kill when he was young.

But before the final blow could be struck, another image flashed into his mind. It was an image of... Maka.

A series of icy projectiles and fireballs slammed into him, knocking him off balance but doing no real harm to him as he stumbled a few steps to the left.

He then glanced back down at Guiche and suddenly found himself overcome with guilt. He had almost killed this person, almost gone back to what he used to be. He.. He had almost betrayed Maka again. He would have never been able to live with himself if he that again.

Crona stumbled backwards as the demon sword disappeared back into his body. His mind was already an incoherent mess and the sheer horror at what he had almost done was more than he could take.

"I-I almost.. I didn't.. I didn't mean to.. I'm so sorry." He managed to say right before his mind completely shut down and he blacked out for the second time.

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><p>Author's note: If the last part seems rushed, it's because I pulled an all nigher finishing this. I think it turned out pretty ok.<p> 


	4. Chapter 4

Author's note: Fixed up the previous chapters, changed the title name, got new cover art and holy crap I have 100 follows and I've only done three chapters. That's good right? Either way, I'm always looking for feedback on my writing and maybe a beta reader too.

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><p>When Crona woke up he slowly sat upright in his bed and stretched his arms outwards while yawning. For the next few minutes he simply sat there and breathed in the fresh morning air while slowly wiping the gound from his eyes. He couldn't remember the last time he had woken up feeling so rested and ready for the day. He was pretty sure it was Soul's turn to cook breakfast and in the past, that usually heralded disaster. In response to this, Crona had volunteered to help the weapon scythe improve his cooking skills and it showed. He no longer started any fires and the meals he prepared were almost as good as his. He couldn't help but blush when he remembered Maka's compliments and approving smile.<p>

Then something in the back of his mind clicked and his eyes snapped wide open.

Frantically looking around, he saw that he was in a bedroom. There were a few things like a nightstand, dresser, cabinet, a mirror on the wall, a large bag at the end of the bed and large pile of books stacked in the corner, but other than that, the room was largely empty. He glanced out the window where the morning rays of the 'sun' were shining in and breathed a sigh of relief. He may have been in trouble for almost killing that person but at least he wasn't in a prison cell. Being trapped in an unfamiliar land and in jail for attempted murder wasn't something he knew how to deal with. But that was the silver lining as far as he was concerned.

He'd lost control and gone berserk. Worse yet, everyone had seen it happen. They'd seen his black blood, seen Ragnarok, seen what he was capable of and seen what a freak he truly was. Worst of all, Siesta now knew this as well. One of the only people in this place who was nice to him now knew he was a monster and was probably terrified of him. How could things possibly get any worse?

Shaking his head clear, Crona climbed out of bed and made the interesting discovery that he was in nothing but his white boxers. The teachers must have brought him to the infirmity first, thinking he had been injured in the fight. He could only imagine their surprise upon discovering that their attacks hadn't even scratched him.

He walked over to the mirror and looked himself over. Physically, he wasn't much to look at. He was tall, lean, with virtually no body fat and his pale skin was completely flawless thanks to his healing abilities. But now that he was eating three square meals a day, his ribs were no longer showing and he could even see the faint outline of a strong athletic build where there was once just skin and bone. He wasn't sure what to think of the changes his body was going through but Ragnarok was more than willing to make jokes that made his face turn red with embarrassment. Especially the ones involving him and Maka together in the same bed. That had put some images in his head that he'd rather not focus on at the moment.

Crona turned his attention to the pile of books that were in the corner. He could tell that they were the books that had been sucked into the portal but it was the framed picture that was laying face down on top of them that got his attention. He already knew what it was before he even picked it up and flipped it over.

It was the picture of him and Maka.

He couldn't help but smile, remembering the day this had been taken. But those feelings of happiness were quickly turned to sadness when he realized that his friends must be worried sick of him, or thought he was dead. If only there was some way he could contact them and let them know that he was alright. He especially couldn't stand the thought of what Maka must be thinking right now. The look on her face as he was sucked into the portal had been permanently burned into his mind. He wanted nothing more than to ease her worries, confess his true feelings for her, lie and tell her that he had an idea on how to get back home. But he couldn't, he was completely powerless and hated every moment of it.

Wait. The mirror!

He carefully placed the picture on the dresser like it was a piece of delicate glass and then went back over to the mirror. He breathed heavily on it, causing it to fog up and began writing the numbers.

"42-42-564, whenever you want to knock on Death's door." He quietly whispered to himself as he wrote the required numbers. Any second now there should be a ripple on the surface and he'd find himself face to face with Lord Death himself.

A few moments passed and nothing happened. His shoulders slumped in disappointment. He had a feeling that was too good to be true.

He didn't have any time to think further because Ragnarok suddenly burst out of his back and began to furiously punch his head with his balled up fists while shouting.

"RAGNAROK HUNGRY! RAGNAROK NEED FOOD NOW! RAGNAROK WILL NOT TAKE NO FOR ANSWER!" He yelled in third person, completely unrelenting in his assault.

Crona, taken completely by surprise by this, flailed his arms in the air while stumbling around and nearly tripped over his own legs.

"Alright, alright, I'll get some food. Just be quiet before somebody hears us." He said in a panicked voice while covering his head with his arms in an attempt to shield himself from the onslaught. But Ragnarok didn't believe him and began furiously pulling on his hair.

"RAGNAROK IS NOT CONVINCED. RAGNAROK WILL PUT BEES IN YOUR UNDERWEAR AS PUNISHMENT." The black demon continued shouting.

"Ow! Quit it! That hurts!" Crona yelled as he tried to get him to stop. "And stop speaking in third person!"

The two continued fighting for another half minute until there was a knock on the door. "Crona, are you alright in there? I hear a lot of screaming." A soft and sweet sounding voice called. Crona froze in place, it was Siesta.

For a moment he couldn't say anything. "I.." He started and then remembered that he was still in his boxers. "I need to get dressed. Just give me a minute." He said as he said and began opening the drawers on the dresser in search of his robe. Ragnarok also, thankfully, retreated back into his body.

He found it and quickly put it on. He then, with great reservation, opened the door and found himself face to face with Siesta. He was expecting her to be cowering in fear but to his surprise and confusion, looked concerned for his well being.

"I was coming to tell you that there's food available in the kitchen but then I heard screaming. Are you alright?" She asked.

Crona simply stared for a moment. "You.. You aren't afraid of me?"

Siesta blinked in confusion. "Why would I be afraid of you?"

"Because... Because.." Crona began as he struggled to hold back the tears that were forming in his eyes. "Because I'm not normal. Because.. Because I'm a freak and because I almost killed that person.. I... I didn't mean to! I just.. Lost control and now I'm..."

But before Crona could continue any further Siesta reached out and gently pulled him into a hug, a blush immediately forming on his face when she touched him. He still wasn't used to physical contact with girls, or people in general, except for Maka, sometimes. But strangely enough, he wasn't bothered by this.

"I'm not afraid of you and I don't think you are a freak or a killer either." She said while pressing her face against his chest, causing his face to turn even redder. "I think you are a very kind, polite and friendly person. You aren't in any trouble either."

After a few moments of stunned silence, Crona slowly wrapped his arms around Siesta. "Thank you." He said quietly.

"For what?" Siesta asked.

"For not being afraid of me." Crona replied.

For the next few moments the two simply held each other. But the sudden sound of Crona's growling stomach caused the two to separate with Siesta blushing and Crona rubbing the back of his head awkwardly.

"Let's go get something to eat." He said, smiling sheepishly.

* * *

><p>It was morning at the Tristanian Academy of Magic. The students woke up, dressed themselves and went to the kitchen where the servants had prepared their food. After a minute of prayer to the ancient founder Brimir, they began eating and talking amongst themselves. Louise was also there, eating silently and keeping her eyes downcast. Thankfully none of the students had spoken to her yet and were content to talk amongst themselves while she ate in peace. But Louise couldn't help but listen in on the chatter around her and although she couldn't make out the exact words of what they were saying, some instinctual part of her knew that her fellow students were talking about HIM.<p>

Her familiar, the strangely dressed peasant from an unknown land who had initially been mistaken for a girl. Everyone had mocked her relentlessly for summoning a nervous, cowardly, gender confused and generally unimpressive looking human, let alone a proper familiar.

Then Guiche challenged him to a duel and everything she thought she knew about this person immediately went out the window.

For starters, his blood was black and he could materialize a talking sword seemingly out of his own body. Those two alone were unnerving enough as it was, but it got worse. Not only had he demonstrated that he possessed superhuman strength and speed, but he had also shrugged off everything that was thrown at him without even flinching. On top of all that, he was also incredibly skilled and moved with the fluid precision of a master as he effortlessly tore apart Guiche's bronze valkyries.

But the worst thing by far were his eyes.

The look of complete detachment and unbridled madness in his eyes had sent chills down her spine. But the real terror was knowing that not only was this person insane, but they also had no idea if they'd be able to stop him if he turned violent again.

This person was extremely dangerous. Louise knew it, the other students knew it, even if they refused to admit it and the teaches knew it as well.

Luckily for everyone in the academy, he didn't seem interested in doing anything violent. If becoming overcome with guilt when he suddenly snapped out of his frenzy was any indication. But knowing that this normally docile person could suddenly snap and go on a killing rampage wasn't a comforting thought.

People were scared, but they were also curious. Louise also admittingly wanted to learn more about this persons origins, where he had come from, what his home was like, who or what he was and so on. Osmond had requested their presence in his office at the end of the day. He wanted to ask her familiar some questions and hopefully prevent another incident like this from occurring. Maybe she could learn something about him there.

"Well Louise it looks like we've been wrong about you and your familiar." An all to familiar voice said from behind her.

Louise whirled around and found herself face to face with the dark skinned, redheaded and large breasted Kirche. Tabitha was with her as well, her attention currently focused on the book in her hands but there was no doubt in her mind that she was also listening intently.

"Go away Kirche, I'm not in the mood right now." Louise managed to say through grit teeth.

"I'm being serious! Especially about your familiar." Kirche retorted. "He's a total badass and on top of that, he's super cute. Me and Tabitha are going to go talk to him at the end of the day."

Upon hearing Kirche's explanation Louise's eye twitched. Of course she would focus on that aspect of her familiar and not the fact that he was a half insane killer who could crush her like a bug. In truth, Louise was tempted to let Kirche go ahead and get herself killed. But she was a mage was ultimately held responsible for her familiar's behavior. So as much as she'd like to see Kirche get her flirting comeuppance, she decided it would be best to put a stop to her crazy suicidal plan.

"Kirche, I forbid you from speaking to my familiar! I don't want to get expelled from the academy because you decided to go and get yourself killed!" Louise shouted. But her words didn't seem to have any affect on Kirche. If anything, they only seemed to encourage her.

"Oh come on, he only did that because Guiche attacked him and he was able to stop himself before he did anything serious. Even Tabith agrees that he isn't really a killer. Isn't that right?" Kirche said and turned to the short blue haired girl for support. But Louise replied before she could get a word in.

"Yeah, if you call doing THAT to Guiche nothing serious." She said and pointed to one of the far off tables.

All three girls attention then turned to the table Louise had pointed at. Guiche was seated there, eating in complete silence with a traumatized expression expression on his face. A few people called out to him but he simply sat there staring off into space, completely unresponsive to the world around him. Even Montmorency looked concerned.

"Unstable. Will attack if provoked. Must use caution." Tabitha said in her usual emotionless voice.

"See, Tabitha agrees with me." Kirche stated triumphantly.

Louise sighed. "Can you at least explain why you two are so interested in meeting my familiar?"

"Would like to talk. Have questions." Tabitha quietly said.

"And he looks so sad and lonely. Poor thing was taken from his home and friends, only to become the personal slave of Louise the zero." Kirche said with a surprisingly sad look on her face. But that sadness quickly turned to a disturbing form of eagerness as her eyes opened wide like saucers and she began gushing like a toddler who had just seen the cutest pet ever. "Don't you just want to hug hm and tell him that everything will be alright? He just looks so adorable!"

In response to this, Louise buried her face in her hands and silently prayed that the redhead would suddenly spontaneously combust.

* * *

><p>Crona was in surprisingly good spirits today. He wasn't entirely sure why though. Maybe it was the fact that he wasn't in trouble for yesterdays events. Or maybe it was because his new close friend Siesta wasn't afraid of him like he thought she would be. Whatever the case, he barely even noticed that he had now finished his third plate of food.<p>

"Wow, you must have been really hungry Our Shield." Marteau commented as Crona took another sip of his tea.

Apparently, his defeat of a noble had made him into some kind of folk hero amongst the servants. Some like Marteau even gave him titles like 'shield' or 'protector'. He tried to explain that he was simply defending himself, but he wouldn't hesitate to help someone if they were in trouble. Unfortunately, that explanation only seemed to make them idolize him even more than they already did.

Having people actually look up to or admire him was a completely alien concept to Crona. He was used to being treated with hatred, fear, mistrust, scorn and discrimination for being a half witch. Even his friends were more on the lines of supportive and accepting. But the feeling of being genuinely looked up to was unlike anything he had ever felt before. He simply had no words to describe it. Although he did have to admit, he kind of liked it.

"So, what are you?" Marteau asked once Crona had finished his drink. He inwardly grimaced at this. He knew it was only a matter of time before people would start wanting to know more about him and he was unsure of what to say. The fact that he had the almost completely undivided attention of the servants wasn't helping matters.

Marteau must have somehow seen this because he raised his hands in an apologetic manner. "It's alright, you don't have to tell us if you don't want to. We were just curious, that's all."

Crona forced himself to calm down and took a deep breath. "It's alright. I'm just trying to figure out what I should and shouldn't tell you." He said as he closed his eyes in deep thought. After a few moments, he made his decision.

"I won't go into any specific details for personal reasons, and also because I don't want any of you to worry about me." He said, trying to look calm. Though inwardly, he was more than a little nervous.

"I used to be a normal human being. But a witch named Medusa kidnapped me for an experiment. She melted down a demon sword called Ragnarok, mixed him with a substance she called the black blood and used to to replace my own blood." Crona involuntarily shuddered at the memory. He decided not to tell them that Medusa was his biological mother, partly because he didn't want them to worry about him but also because he wasn't sure how the mages of this place would react to him being the offspring of what was basically the boogeyman to them. He also tried to ignore how deathly quiet the room had become and continued.

"After that I was forced to do things that I really don't want to talk about and before you ask, no, I couldn't just walk away. Medusa made sure that any act of rebellion on my part would lead to a swift death." Another half truth. Medusa did know how to disable his defenses but she had also conditioned him from birth to obey her every command. "As for what I can do, I'm stronger than what should be physically possible, faster and more durable too. I can also harden my blood to be impervious to physical attacks and any injury I do get heals almost instantly. Also, if you see any of my blood on the floor or something, don't touch it. It's infectious and it will drive you insane."

Crona took a few moments to catch his breath before continuing. "For ..." He briefly stopped but forced himself to continue. "For the longest time, I was either forced to do unspeakable things or locked in a cage with nobody to talk to. Well, there was Ragnarok but he wasn't the talkative sort. Eventually Medusa was killed and as a direct result, I was set free. Then I met Maka."

He couldn't help but smile warmly when he remembered Maka's outstretched hand and smiling face. "She was the kindest, bravest and most wonderful person in the world. Her friends were also very kind to me as well." After that his expression changed to one of sadness as he continued. "I.. I just wish there was some way I could tell them that I'm alright. But there isn't and I may never see them again. I may never see Maka again either."

With that he buried his head in his arms, not wanting them to see the tears that were now in his eyes as he silently wept. But then he felt someone place a comforting hand on his back.

"It's alright. No matter what happens, your new friends here will be there for you." Siesta quietly said.

Crona looked up at her and smiled. "You're a lot like her, you know that?"

"You mentioned earlier that you could talk with to the demon sword. Was it sentient?" Marteau asked with a perplexed expression on his face.

Upon hearing this Crona perked up. "Oh right, I completely forgot about him. Ragnarok you can come out now."

The second he said that Ragnarok burst out of his back. For a moment there was complete silence as all attention was drawn to the strange black creature that had come out of his back. The silence was abruptly ended when Ragnarok began pulling on Crona's hair and yelling.

"How could you just sit there and stuff your face like that!? Do you have any idea how hungry I am right now?"

"Quit it, that hurts! I had to explain things first and I was starving." Crona said while trying to get Ragnarok to stop pulling his hair.

"That thing is the demon sword?" Marteau asked with an expression of complete incredulity on his face, no doubt trying to make sense of just what he was looking at.

"Not his ow, actual sword form, ouch, but yes." Crona said in between grunts of pain. "Stop pulling my hair already!"

"Um, mister Ragnarok sir? Could you please stop hurting Crona?" Siesta asked nervously, causing the creature to stop it's assault and turn it's attention to her. "I'll get you some food if that's what you want."

"Yes! Thank you!" He shouted as the maid scurried off to get some more of the leftover food while everybody else continued to stare. Crona was getting more and more uncomfortable with the way they were just silently staring at him and Ragnarok. Thankfully, the silence was broken by Marteau.

"I have to say, for a demon sword, you aren't what I was expecting." He said.

Ragnarok shifted his gaze to the chef. "Well fuck you too asshole."

"I didn't mean to insult you. I'm just saying that you aren't what I was expecting you to be." Marteau replied, slightly taken aback by the sudden verbal assault.

"And I repeat myself; Fuck you." Ragnarok stated.

"Is it alright if I help out with whatever work needs to be done here?" Crona asked, changing the subject. "I need some new clothes and I'd also like to see more of this place. If there's any work that needs to be done, especially heavy lifting, I'd like to help."

Just then, Siesta returned carrying a large plate of food. Ragnarok immediately grabbed the plate out of her hands once she was in reach and with his own unique style of etiquette, dumped the entire plates contents into his mouth, chewed a few times and then swallowed.

Crona sighed. "Ragnarok, could you please at least try to be a little more polite to people?"

In response to this the demon weapon let out a loud belch, spraying spittle everywhere. "What do you mean?" He asked.

"Never mind." Crona muttered. "So, is there anything that you need done?"

* * *

><p>Once lessons at the academy were done for the day Louise wasted no time in searching for her familiar. She had heard from some of the other students that her familiar had marched into the forest, cut down the biggest tree that he could find and then, to the amazement of everyone watching, dragged it to where the servants quarters were as if it was just another day at work for him. He then spent the next hour or so chopping it up into what had to be a years supply of firewood with that mysterious sword of his.<p>

That wasn't the only thing he had done either. He had also hauled a massive water barrel all the way to the lake, refilled it and carried it all the way back again. He had also performed other tasks that would have required the efforts of multiple people or a horse drawn cart.

Why was he doing all of this? What could possibly be driving him to perform such superhuman feats? What was his ultimate goal?

Apparently he needed money for new clothes.

He had left a few minutes ago and was heading to Tristania with a very generous amount of money in his pockets. He hadn't taken a horse, probably realizing that he'd just scare the thing and apparently had his own means of long distance travel. Whatever that might be.

Louise wasted no time in running out the front entrance and heading for the gate. Maybe if she was fast enough she could catch up with him without having to take a horse.

"Hey Louise, where are you running off to?" She heard Kirche call out from behind.

"Not now Kirche, I need to catch up with my familiar before he wanders off." Louse called back as she reached the gate. She spotted her familiar in the distance, he was just standing there like a statue. She was about to call out to him when he suddenly started screaming and doubled over in apparent pain. Louise briefly wondered what was happening to him, but that question was quickly answered when two massive dragon like wings suddenly erupted out of his back.

Louse could only stare in slack jawed amazement as her familiar then took to the skies and flew off into the distance at a speed she didn't think was possible. What the hell was he?

"He can fly too!?" She heard Kirche shout from behind her. "This guy just gets more and more intriguing by the minute."

Louise sighed and turned to Tabitha who was also present. "I need to borrow your dragon."

The blue haired girl merely glanced in her direction.

"I know what day it is but this is important." Louise said. "We need to find my familiar before he gets himself into trouble."

For a moment Tabitha did nothing. But then she closed her book and nodded her head.

"Let's go."

* * *

><p>Authors note: I finally got this done. Hope you like it. Up next, Crona dresses like Kirito, Count Mott takes Siesta away, unknowingly placing himself in mortal danger and Crona mistakes a bottle of wine for grape juice resulting in hilarity and a bar brawl.<p> 


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